Thanks to the hard work of some very talented individuals, many of the Japanese N64 games have now been translated into English. These include the classic Sin and Punishment, Custom Robo, Densha de Go! 64 (a train driving simulation), Wonder Project J2, Last Legion UX (a mech combat game), Chameleon Twist* and Bomberman 64 Arcade Edition. And the 64DD games, which are now playable on a 64DD-less N64 if you have an Everdrive 64 or a 64Drive, have begun to be translated, including SimCity 64, Doshin the Giant, and the Mario Artist Studio games. I can't help with any of this, as I'm not bi-lingual, and don't know anything about N64 hacking, but I've just found the SimCity 64 manual available for download, and it's in Japanese (neither the 64DD, nor SimCity 64, were ever released outside of Japan, sadly), and it would be nice to have it in English, since in SimCity 64 you can do lots of different things that you can't do in other SimCity games, such as walk about in first person mode exploring the city and talking to pedestrians, fly around in a helicopter looking at the city you're building, ride in a train, gamble in a casio to try and get more money, and so on. So I thought I'd have a go at translating the manual... An example page from the manual. Anyway, since I'm utterly ignorant of the complexities of translating even just a .PDF document (the format the downloadable manual is in), I imagined I could just copy and paste the text from the .PDF file into Google Translate, get the Japanese translation, do what I could to correct any oddities introduced by the lack of a human translator, and remake the .PDF file with the English text. See what I mean about being ignorant? First of all, the PDF doesn't have COPY-able text, it's all stored as one image per page. So I OCR'd a page to test it, copied the result into Google Translate, and the result was pure garbage. I don't know where the errors crept in, whether at the OCR stage, the Google Translate stage, or something I did wrong or didn't do but should have. And since I don't know, let alone understand Japanese letters or symbols, I can't manually type the lines from the manual into Google Translate, as I could if the manual was in a language using the Western alphabet. So I was wondering, if anyone who is fluent in reading Japanese and has a few hours to spare would be willing to read through the manual and translate it into English? You don't have to put it into the .PDF file or anything, if you just post the translations in this thread, then I will do the formatting and insert it into the .PDF (unless you want to do the whole thing, of course). If anyone has the ability and the time, and is willing to help contribute to the noble art of making games more accessible to the world, then please download the manual from: https://64dd.org/manual/Sim City 64 Manual.7z Thanks for reading this, and for any replies. * For some reason, the Japanese version of Chameleon Twist has content that was cut from the NTSC and PAL ports, so the Japanese version was fan-translated into English so everyone could play the superior version.
Since you're talking about "a couple of hours", let me put this in perspective. If you're looking at pages 4-43 that would be approximately one week's work (full-time) for an experienced translator for the translation only (no formatting etc). I'm not saying that it doesn't sound like a fun project but it's more work than you think. Depending on how bad it is I could help with cleaning up the text that you got from the OCR. That might help the translator(s). Can you upload it in a simple text file?
No doubt you're right, of course (nothing is ever simple, is it?). OK mate. I used both Abbyy FineReader (thanks for the suggestion, Armorant) and an online OCR site (http://www.i2ocr.com/free-online-japanese-ocr) to translate these two pages (they are in one .JPG file) : I'll paste the Abbyy FineReader text into the next post, and the online OCR site's results into the post after that, so that everything in those two posts is the direct output of the respective OCR systems: Edit: You might want to skip the next post (the one from Abbyy FineReader), as I think I've gotten better results by changing the 'Document Language' settings, look further down the thread for details.
• f J/AJ/5* -f -64 J r>T.£h,UV-L ?.....................5 • □VhCl-SOtMfrfc.......................................6 • 7 4~X0<T)\1"J:t -iW..-........-....-.....-...........8 • i-KJBft..............................................9 • BiT5<Df|fi£«»tt)Si9ICT5C:t..........................11 *704wmD9itiHt..........................................i3 %\7y'jO*J3 V^IU^HK] ICDUT..............................14 • HSr.94 M © [7 KM-fA) EOUT...........................15 • «m©Riaicyrb>y!......................................16 33WIB€K* «*J6fc<*as: 6: [R«ffT)«U9- 16 6 : V36MB) *§l< --*22 17 7: \M-7] Ti — 23 18 8 ftHSfea^siis --24 19 *«whw»ut— — 25 20 9:iiLWJ«WC — — 26 21 ★assicou’c — 27 • [SltfE- h] £ |AmH,4*y hi.............................28 • i-7y7)tiim^^7) im&57}z%m\............................30 • [SffiStffJ] ICDUT....................................31 • lz/*'J*!E-WtiZ3VoT:7ls-< !.......................... • **<’:/has'y* *nnr W531....................... • (■Xm-TM'D:/! s iiy-JM -k«........................... • |Dr.5-< h] © (T7 HK-C*] -H............................41 8 SIS rS/^S/y^-64Jorf=7u«»-A? fS/ijkS/TY-84 ^±3D2ra©«-C»m«»BltT«'>=ab-2/3>y-^TTo rnsrassTi/'f •»»-». wmst® «£S- ®* • xgt&eoKii) ic»*or. zmwwEm. Kti • ii* • &»***££. gBfnoiisiiiMtJST^r ©c t *, @ # ©^ ZrfrfcfcttntffcOStt/u,, 8Sffi©??fiS*«3©£><!:. WrffiR nrADt»ia^*TV^i*ic<ti8Bm«5mK«8Brii«*o.A Pti«o-C-USLiSToZ:5Srcf^^<CDmK^ttj8lca5tiS «Bm^D^T«.©^7L/'f'V-OSgt«D*Tc *©±7?. gtf ttswaa^w t<zxwfc&-t&n<tf77 y^i/ay^nymm (pi4)tfa5D3nr» £fc. [Br5^M©[7,H/W:*](P15)IC £0. tjttOIC«*3li3A,fctA«*BB± e»a>ffio)^icA53 i tv-cesToSj©^ r«.mK©Djx>h SmKCtfcrSST (P28)d
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I've never used Abbyy Finereader before so I thought it would auto-detect the language like Google Translate does, but I've just checked and it doesn't seem to, so I've manually altered the 'Document Language' setting to Japanese and English, and I'll post the output in the next post (that output, when then converted by Google Translate into English, does make some sense now, so it seems Abbyy FineReader might be better than that online site, though it still contains a lot that's not understandable to my uneducated, English-only self).
參シムシティ一64つてどんなゲーム1? 參コン卜ローラの®Uかた....... •ディスクのセッティング....... •トド晰............... •馨布®II成を»める箱にすること…… 春プレイ■»©見かた......... • tフアンクシヨンへルフ鍵簡丨に■DtVT • • (br•ライトIの(アドバイス]について- 參露mの!!成にチヤレンジ！..... 1:1»駆を财.........16 6 :【送)®8】を引く .........17 7 : ItZ-プ】する•-•• 痛栗跑を脑.............18 8:«明83を明8 — 【5SB81を «15......19 こ OU て 丨と丨インタH——20 9:成授し«ける航で 5: [JBWftjSilS...21 ★災害について •【金18モード】と【人雄しイペン卜1............... • Iマップ1と丨布民クラフ）丨明?Bクラフ]を活用丨....... こついて...................... •[シナリオモード丨はこ3やつてプレイI.............. I!ペイン卜スタジオで自分だけの-as民”を作ろ3丨...... [メアイコン1s【ッール卜财.................. •【far•ライト】の丨アドバイス] 一n............. ち く 日 913456 8012361 --11111 2 3 3 3 3 3 4 2223842S2627 rシムシティ一64 jつてどんなゲーム7 _ 「シムシティ一64は、完全3D空Mの中で15市を育成するシ5ユレ一シヨンゲームです。 プレイヤー(あなた)はrmfiuとなり、自分の娜市を大きく成長させなければなり*せん。 自分の®市を大きくしよう！ 5るフレ- 市Rであるフレイヤーは、都市計画（住宅•商*•エ霣地区の配匾）に始まって、交通機閲の®孀、 玫宵•娛粢旃投のa投、公畜•災苒対策など.都市の運sにmわるすベてのことを、自分の手 で行わなければな0ません。部市の两成を始めると、やがて市民 が*まり始めます。住みやすい部市なら、市民は都市に定住してく れて人口も坩えますが、住みにくい都布なら市民は都市を去り、人 ロも減つてしまいます.:できるだけ多くの市民が快遇に*らせる 都市作りをするのがプレイヤーの役目となります。その上で、自分 だけの都市を自由に作つていくことができるのです。 ヘルプ機能で初心者にち親切！ 此況に奴て7ドパイスやetm受i：tsnる(フ7 ンクシヨンへルフ«篇）（P14)があります。 また、丨Dr•ライ卜丨の【アドパイスKP15)に より、街作りに間するいろんな悄報を圏面上 で見ることができますa とができます。街の中 では、市民のコメン卜 を閡くことちできます (P28)〇
And here are the three text files: from ABBYY FineReader 12 - Sim City 64_page_0005.txt from ABBYY FineReader 12 Japanese setting - Sim City 64_page_0005.txt (the second of the two, probably the best, as it was now set to expect Japanese text) from i2ocr_com p58azzf2282415f7.jpg.txt
The one with the Japanese settings is the only usable one. But there's still a lot of garbage and missing characters. Probably the same amount of work cleaning it up, pasting to Google Translate and work from there than just translating directly from the PDF. You could try Google Drive OCR. It works well with Japanese texts but the quality of the scan and the colored background could still cause errors. Hope you find a fan of the game with the necessary skills and enough time.
I didn't know that Google even did OCRing! I'll look it up, thanks for helping. I'm not a big fan of large corporations, but Google have some excellent services, and the fact that they are free makes them even better.
The key to good OCR results is properly preprocessing the image. I have a tool that dynamically translates a portion of the screen and below is what it returns for page 4. It uses tesseract, like everything else, but runs filters on the bitmap before that so tesseract gets a nice clean 1 bit bitmap. When I turn on the invert filter the inverted header is recognized perfectly because tesseract gets what it's expecting. ム シ テ ィ ー⑥④』 っ て ど ん な ゲ ー ム マ ー-ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー ニ ーーーーーーーーーー- ⑤ コ ン ト ロ ー ラ の 使 い か た -ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー ニ ーーーーーーー-- ⑥ デ ィ ス ク の セ ッ テ ィ ン グ -ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー- ⑧ モ ー ド 紹 介 -ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー-- ⑨ 都 市 の 育 成 を 始 め る 前 に す る こ と --ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー-- ⑪ ① プ レ イ 団 面 の 見 か た - ニ ーー-ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー- ①③ @ [ フ ァ ン ク シ ョ ン ヘ ル プ 機 能 】 に つ い て ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー ニ ー ⑭ @ [Pr. ラ イ ト 】 の 【 ア ド バ イ ス 】 に つ い て -ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー- ⑮ 0 都 市 の 育 成 に チ ャ レ ン ジ ! ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー ⑯
First of all, sorry for taking so long to respond, I didn't know anyone had answered. Anyway, copying and pasting what you posted into Google Translate gives me: What kind of game maker - musical - 6 - 4 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ⑤ Use of the controller - - - - - - - ⑥ Set up disks - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -ー ー ー ⑧ Module introduction - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ー ー ー ー ⑨ Before you start cultivating a city - - - - - - - - - - ⑪ ① I saw the plane side - Nee - ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー- ー ー - ①③ About [[Function Help] Function - - About [Advise] of @ [Pr. Light] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ⑮ Challenge to cultivate 0 city! - ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ー ーー ー ー ⑯ Which is a great start! If I can get the rest in Japanese, as good as what you posted up, then I can perhaps manually correct many of the less than clear English results, and for anything else I can hopefully post the specific Japanese words or phrases in this thread or another forum and get them translated by a fluent Japanese speaker. Can you please tell me what software you used, and what settings, please? Please don't assume I know anything about OCR (I don't), I don't even know what 'tesseract' means in this context,
